(Did they just re-use the storyboards from Haruhi to make 10% of this episode? I felt like they did.)

Is Kyoto Animation so flush with cash that they can afford the movie-like animation for Hyouka? They’re just making every other studio look silly.

And not to mention the great backgrounds too. Kyoto really ramped it up for Disappearance, and Nichijou wasn’t really setup for pretty backgrounds (only pretty insane chase sequences). This only makes me want to see the K-On! movie more. Sigh. I hope they eventually show it on the big screen here in SF.

Wait, wait, wait… let me get this straight. Not only is Kyoto investing like a billion dollars in animation, they are having Tomoya’s VA voice the lead? And then have Sunohara’s VA voice his sidekick? And then toss in Ritsu’s VA for good measure? This. Is. Madness.

(And Takemoto is the director. He did do a great job with Full Metal Panic… which brings me to… where the hell is the rest of my Full Metal Panic?!)

Go for broke production values aside, I wasn’t too keen on yet another (is this the new trendy genre?) low calorie mystery slash horror anime series. Then again, it’s not like Clannad (harem slice-of-life romance) or K-On! (low calorie moe) are new genres, but Kyoto just executes well. The pick good source material, do a good job bringing it to life, and only occasionally troll their audience. Well, I just don’t know about Hyouka‘s source material until I realized that this show is really Encyclopedia Brown. And I love Encyclopedia Brown.

(Basically, Encyclopedia Brown is like if Houtarou’s detective skills and Satoshi’s database skills were merged into one awkward teenager starring in a children’s novel series. But Houtarou is kinda of a twist in that he doesn’t use his talents for good, and Brown is as of a goody-two-shoes that you can get. He makes Paragon Shepard cringe at his virtuousness. But if Houtarou can pull off an Encyclopedia Brown knock-off, I am in.)

(The most amazing part is that I just realized they still are publishing new Encyclopedia Brown novels. I may have to catch up…)

Oh silly love. I get the felling that Houtarou’s sister set them up. Has to be. Though I kept thinking… “Look into my eyes… you are getting very, very sleepy…” Though I guess his light attraction to Chitanda does give some plausible reason why he would try to solve mysteries if anything to impress her but not overexert himself while doing so. Basically, he’s Tomoya during the “Dozo! Have a starfish!” chapter.

Wait, there’s a girls with guns club? And what appears to be Hamtaro? Kyoto plays it straight and leaves off the drama club, the SOS brigade, the light music club, and everyone’s favorite go-soccer club… no doubt if this were Shaft, the billboard would feature a Kyubey as well as the art club.

(Has every single one of Kyoto’s recent anime series revolve around an after school club? Though you could argue Shinonome Labs for Nichijou rather than go-soccer, but go-soccer was so Calvinballtastic.)

“I’m just a database, so I don’t draw any conclusions, but Houtarou is different.”

Why does it feel like a videogame setup where some NPC tells me that he can only help me so far. Damnit Wrex, why aren’t you covering my back?! Though I like the concept of Sunohara being the database as well as being the voice of reason… I’m sure nothing will go wrong here…

(Or I was just disappointed we have the Clannad bros back, and there’s not a single drop kick or dictionary to be seen?)

Modern Law of Anime #2 fulfilled. Lead character sits towards the back in a window seat. The window is also on the right hand side (facing podium) of the room, as usual. Do like left hand side windowed rooms just not exist in Japan?

(Was it #2? I don’t remember anymore. I really should keep better track of them. #1 is, of course, the loser harem lead will collide with the female lead. #3 is nothing moves faster than light, except huge freakin’ giant robots.)

The way Chitanda bounces her head when she’s happily agreeing… adorable. And I enjoy her innocently clueless classification to the point that I am hoping a meido outfit eventually gets worked into this series. Every Japanese high school has some sort of mysterious meido mystery… don’t they? Please tell me that they do. TELL ME!

The “Spider Silk Association” sounds more like:

A. A lesbian bar.
B. A really bad WoW guild.
C. A snuff film.
D. The new girl band in the new Angel Beats prequel.

While there really wasn’t much to the first episode, I hope future episodes will provide a better clue as to where this show is going. If it goes the moe, fun slice-of-life route, I’m fine with it. But I am hoping for maybe not substantial mysteries but at least clever ones or ones that show off a twist in the genre. Kyoto’s production prowess can carry the show at that point. And if this show does become Encyclopedia Brown meets K-On!, I will be as happy as Lancer fighting a noble battle.

12 Responses to “hyouka 1”

“(And Takemoto is the director. He did do a great job with Full Metal Panic… which brings me to… where the hell is the rest of my Full Metal Panic?!)”
Ask Shoji Gatoh… Oh, wait. He is THE SCRIPT WRITER of this episode!

“The window is also on the right hand side (facing podium) of the room, as usual. Do like left hand side windowed rooms just not exist in Japan? ”

You were given the answer before, forgot already? The windows are on the right so that shadows are cast to the LEFT and so do not inconvinience right handed students.
If left handed windows appeared, the proper response would be, “which idiot designed this building to inconvinience 80% of its students?”

It seems to me that instead of mysteries, they are pretty much going to either :
a) debunk silly rumours
b) take on false assumptions
c) create rumours or assumptions to keep Eru entertained until she gets a meido
d) troll

Ooh, Encyclopedia Brown. I haven’t heard that name in ages. Brings back memories of my childhood, along with Danny Dunn and the McGurk Detective Agency (which is what I originally thought you were referring to). I wonder if all the people complaining about this show’s direction would also dislike those books.

okay, I’m tired of people thinking Hyouka is 100% KyoAni’s work. It is not. It’s adapted from the mystery novel Hyouka: You Can’t Escape by Honobu Yonezawa. Am I the ONLY one who knows this fact? Also, the actual plot in this series is that by being in the club, Houtarou gets closer to the truth regarding an incident from 33 years ago that involves a female member (here I’m assuming it’s Eru)’s uncle.

Huh? What are you talking about?
Of course we all -at least here in our beloved Blogsuki StrangeReal World- know that Hyouka isn’t KyoAni’s work alone. As Full Metal Panic series, Hahiru Suzumiya series, and Clannad series also weren’t. And of course Kakifly K-ON!s & Arawi’s Nichijou are no different.
It’s just that, KyoAni doing the ‘right’ thing when animating them, and so the praise etc.